Just a few kilometers before the Unnao Sadar area is the Sainik Dhaba on the main Lucknow-Kanpur highway, where the man behind the counter will tell you that this is not the situation for political parties like in 2017. When asked what would be the competition. Like Unnao this time, the person said it will be an “interesting” fight without giving too many details.
Unnao made headlines after the gang rape incident in which former BJP MLA from Bangaramau Kuldeep Singh Sengar was found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment by a special CBI court.
There are six assembly constituencies in Unnao district – Bangarmau, Unnao Sadar, Safipur, Mohan, Purwa and Bhagwantnagar – out of which only Purwa led the BSP candidate to victory, while the rest went to the BJP in 2017. But BSP MLA from Purva Anil Singh also changed. Later the BJP made this constituency a stronghold of the saffron party.
Voting will be held on February 23 in the fourth phase of the six assembly seats of Unnao. But one assembly constituency to keep an eye on is Bangarmau, which Sengar won in 2017.
However, after his conviction, BJP candidate Shrikant Katiyar won the seat in the by-election. Even today, the name plate of ‘MLA-Bangaramau, Unnao’ is installed on Sengar’s office in Sadar area.
Sengar may be in jail, but his dominance in Unnao has not ended. The youths sitting outside his office do not hesitate to say that ‘Vidhayak ji’ (MLA) was falsely implicated and will soon get justice from the High Court. There was speculation that a member of the Sengar family would contest the election, but no political party has given ticket to anyone.
However, this time BJP has fielded Katiyar from this seat while Congress has fielded Aarti Bapai. The Samajwadi Party has given ticket to Munna Alvi, while the BSP has fielded Ram Kishore Pal, whose father is a former MLA.
Though many are claiming that the fight between BJP and SP will be tough in Purva and Mohan, but many in Sadar constituency are satisfied with the state and central development plans.
Ram Khiladi, who is in his sixties and runs a paan kiosk near Unnao collectorate, said, “We are happy and satisfied with the BJP government, they have done a lot for the poor. They gave houses, toilets, free ration, what more do we need? And if they also stop free ration in March, I am sure they will give food grains at subsidized rates for the poor. Also, how can we forget ‘demonetisation’, when all the big rich were forced to open their chests and stood in queues? I am sure BJP will win and form the government once again.
Speaking to News18 from his camp office on Tuesday, Katiyar said that he is confident of being re-elected from this seat as people are happy with the development work of the “double engine” government. “As per the guidelines issued by the Election Commission, we are meeting the people of our constituency and we are getting huge support. Yogi Adityanath government gave a sense of security to the people, controlled the miscreants and gave many development schemes for the poor. I have spent most of my time in my constituency and hence people feel that someone from their family has become MLA.
He said, ‘This time also BJP will do a clean sweep in Unnao and we will win all the seats. This time BJP is going to win more than 300 seats in the UP assembly elections. There is no one in opposition here, only BJP is there all the way in Unnao. Our organization has worked day and night even during the corona (coronavirus) pandemic, it will definitely result in the elections,” he said.
In the Unnao gang rape case, the Congress has fielded the rape victim’s mother from Unnao Sadar seat and Urosa Rana, daughter of famous poet Munavwar Rana, from Purwa. If sources are to be believed, Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi and other big names will soon land in Unnao for election campaign.
Speaking to News18, Urosa said, “People are fed up with the false and hollow promises made by the BJP. No one is safe under BJP rule, be it women or farmers. Job seekers are also being beaten up by the police. Congress is the only option because our leaders believe in doing and not just saying.
“We are getting good response from the people here and the election promises made by the Congress are a big hit among women, youth and farmers. Nobody trusts BJP because they don’t fulfill their promises; I hope Congress will do well in UP assembly elections.
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